I promised a ton in the hopper! Today marks my first week as an expatriate.

Yesterday I went to mass at Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. I met up with 14 pilgrims from Our Lady of Assumption and we walked 12 miles and visited 7 churches! It was amazing (even though all the lectures were in French). Pilgrims from every parish participated and all 2,000 of us converged on Notre Dame for mass celebrated by Bishop Matthieu Rougé. We ended the twelve-hour day at St. Eustache (built between 1530 and 1637) for adoration.

Churches Visited

Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption de Passy
Saint-Honoré d’Eylau
Saint-Ferdinand des Ternes
Saint-François-de-Sales
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
Saint-Eustache

The fire at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris on Monday, April 15 sadly gives my participation in La Marche de Saint Joseph extra significance. I am so saddened by the tragedy (especially during Holy Week) but buoyed by the responses from Catholics (and non-Catholics) all around the world.

A related quote from The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton:

“The facile din of the outer world had given way to awe and silence. Children stood close to their parents and looked around with an air of puzzled reverence. Visitors instinctively whispered, as if deep in some collective dream from which they did not wish to emerge. The anonymity of the street had been subsumed by a peculiar kind of intimacy. Everything serious in human nature seemed to be called to the surface: thoughts about limits and infinity, about powerlessness and sublimity. The stonework threw into relief all that was compromised and dull and kindled a yearning for one to live up to its perfections.”